Adams Supermarket owner Ahmad Abud (aka Hussein Alsalahi) insisted that his South Side grocery store needed to sell liquor to be successful, and was willing to agree to a number of conditions in order to secure his liquor license. One of those conditions was having an off-duty Peoria Police officer act as a security guard from 2 p.m. to midnight.
Sales haven’t been as good as Abud thought they would be, so he’s looking at reducing costs — and one of those costs is the off-duty police officer. He wants to only have an officer working security from 8 p.m. to midnight, and he has the support of First District Councilman Clyde Gulley.
The Police Department, however, thinks that won’t be sufficient and is recommending a third option — that the police security officer start at 5 p.m. They further recommend that this be on a 12-month trial basis, and that if there’s any trouble, the full 2 p.m. to midnight condition be reinstated.
Gulley and others will complain that this is unfair because it’s not required of any other grocery stores with liquor licenses. That’s a valid complaint. But on the other hand, Abud did agree to it. If he thought it was unfair, he should have stated that early in the process, like when he appeared before the Liquor Commission initially or when his license came up for approval before the council. Since he enthusiastically agreed to the conditions, and is now trying to get out of one of them, it makes people nervous that he will continue to chip away at the conditions until his store is nothing more than a glorified liquor store.
Let Mr.Abud show certified accounting that his business isn’t making enough revenue to cover the security guard expense.
I think he should cut his expenses by closing at 8:00 PM like Haddads. 4 hours a day x $30 per hr. x 7 days a week saves him $840 a week not mentioning matching FICA, etc.
What other grocery store in Peoria (not West Peoria) selling alcohol requires the owner to have an off-duty police guard? Are there enough police patrols in the area around the Adams St Market? Is Mr. Abud and this store being singled out for these requirements?
Part of the reason he’s not doing so well is that it isn’t 1956. Most people, even POOR people, have access to a vehicle. Kroger’s is not that far away at Madison Park. This thought that the “neighborhood” store is gonna kick arse is not a well-thought out notion. People have no trouble hopping into their own car, their brother’s car, their daughter’s car, and going to where the selection is wide and the prices aren’t that horrible.
This gentleman arrived in the wrong half-century.
The $30 an hour is all inclusive. There are no extra taxes he has to pay. However, he should be allowed to hire private security rather than the bloated costs he is incurring from the Peoria police.
Do his sales per hour drop off when the real police are there? Is there a correlation between this?
Are the liquor sales he does have that good that he can’t just drop liquor sales and thus get rid of the off duty police security service. BTW Kroger’s at Wisconsin had an officer on duty inside the store in the day time. At least they did the last time I was in there. Truthfully that was the last time I shopped there. I don’t enjoy shopping where it is necessary to hire armed guards. Maybe that is why his sales are not doing well.
Krogers on Lake also employs off duty police officers.
Look at the other side SD. How much crime happens at Krogers where there are guards? I doubt much.
It not a question of how much crime is deterred at the stores with armed guards, its the question of how low has our society sunk that we can’t even go shopping for groceries in the middle of the day without having armed guards standing by. This is totally ridiculous.